What? Has MusiCB3 gone mad? TWO Valentine’s Day posts this year? Actually no. This is about a much more important topic – dating printed music. Now, I know this may not sound wildly exciting, but bear with me; trying to work out when exactly a piece of music was actually written down on paper, or published, sometimes needs the nose of a bloodhound, the detective skills of a Sherlock Holmes, and an inbuilt joy of puzzles.

So, you’ve got a piece of music in front of you, no date is printed on it. Let’s start the dating game…